Q: about combating red hair algae w/pictures

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

I have read the guide to ridding my tank of the red hair algae. I am following the advice and doing all I can for the time being, some steps will require the purchase of additional equipment and will take me a week or so to implement that.
I do have a few unanswered questions though, any help will be appreciated.

1) while using phosphate removing pads that have a liquid additive( Phosphate Filter for Red Hair Algae, Tropical Science | Pet Solutions )for the red hair algae, will it kill ALL algae, thus rendering my tank algae free to starve my crabs and snails? I am not a big fan of adding ANY liquid meds to my tanks.

2)I also read something about adding macro to the tank, what is that?, and shoot me the link to the the steps to remove red hair algae , 'cause I've lost it . Been reading it all week and,just had it a minute ago- guess I'm loosing my mind.

3)Also, I am on the verge of adding LR to this barley established aquarium( 2 month old), should I wait until my algae problem is long gone before placing the clean cured LR? or will it not matter?
Here are some pics of the algae, it appears as dark red hair, actually is a dark maroon color. I removed nearly all of it yesterday with a 20% PWC vacuum, grew 2" in 24 hours- this stuff is crazy !
Thanks.

 

[melosu58]

The cyano article is in our articles section on top of the page. One thing to remember is that it will be a slow process. This process did not quickly start and it wont go away quickly but the battle can be won. Have patience and you`ll be glad you did.

 

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

Anyone want to take on question #1 and #3 ?
Thanks,

 

[austinsdad]

Can't answer that specific Q about the liquid additive for your phosphate filter. Never seen that before.

I'm stuck on finding the sources of the phosphates. That is the key to any continued success for you IMO. How's your tap water testing for it?

Do you have the new LR yet? Cured right? If so you got 2 choices IMO. Either put it in the tank to keep it alive while you deal with the algea. Hmmm.... Or get buckets, add SW and a ph (maybe a heater, depending on ambient temp in the room) to keep it alive while you deal with the algae. Gonna have to add a small bit of fish food every few days to maintain an ammonia source for the bacteria on the cured LR to consume.

Bot sure which option works for you better.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I'd stay away from any liquid additive for that phosphate remover. I personally don't have any experience with it, but like austinsdad have never heard of a liquid additive... other than some of the algaecides that are out there. An technically, that's not red hair algae... it's cyanobacteria. So an "algae remover" isn't going to help you anyway because you're dealing with a bacteria. I'm guessing (pure guess) that the "liquid" is probably some sort of antibiotic treatment which will most likely kill off all bacteria in the tank, or at least a fair amount of it.

If you're not using RO/DI water, then I'd start with that. The other issue is probably overfeeding. Other than those two things (and overstocking with fish, but I don't think that's the issue), I just don't see where the excess nutrients are coming from that is fueling that stuff.

 

[Tank2379]

The cyano article is in our articles section on top of the page. One thing to remember is that it will be a slow process. This process did not quickly start and it wont go away quickly but the battle can be won. Have patience and you`ll be glad you did.

Well if it makes it any better I am Currently fighting Red Hair Algae or Cayno seem as if both are happening at once in my tank and it's been 2 weeks and it's now slowly but surely dissipating... So be patience... With this Process...

 

[roka64]

That doesn't really look like cyano to me....not if it is long and stringy like that.
Cyano and algae are two different beasts. Cyano is a bacteria and algae is not.
I can't answer question #1 since I have never used that product.
I see you have either CC or shell substrate. That could be a cause of the excess algae, as it can trap all kinds of nasties.
You can add the fully cured LR when you like.

 

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

Thanks for the info guys, I am seeing improvements today. I originally filled and cycled the tank with tap water, have done 2 water changes with RO since. I have left lights off, fed every two days, removed the algae I could Saturday with a 20% PWC. I am in the planing stage to convert this tank from reverse flow U/G with CC to sand bottom w/live rock. I have about 15# of rock cycled with tank, and 16 # of cured live rock in a plastic tote with heater,powerhead nd air stone. ( Planning on another 10-15# LR purchase to total about 45 # for a 37 gal tank.)
I will add a little flake food to my bucket of LR to feed the bacteria tonight to hold it until I get the algae gone. The algae is the size of a human hair, individual strands, maroon in color and grows about an inch per 24 hours. Today some of the algae is gone, I might be getting ahead of it. I may still put in a phosphate remover pad to rid the phosphate that may have come it durring the tap water fill . Good news is there is very little live stock, one small chromas and 4 small assorted cardinals, and a couple of snails+mr.crab.

PS: The tank tests are 0,0,0,8.1,1.022 , so all is good there.

 

[roka64]

I would skip the UGF on a SW tank.

 

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

I would skip the UGF on a SW tank.

Yea, I know. I'm old school and made a mistake. I am in the process of converting it over, just need to get the algae out first, then my cured live rock goes in, along with 30# of dead sand. I will use the powerheads to make current and add a protein skimmer to the back wall, as there is no room right now with the other equipment back there. The reverse flow set up takes up a lot of room.

 

[roka64]

Cool deal!

 

[roka64]

Naw, old school is cool, some of it works and newer stuff have replaced some of the older stuff.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Ahhh... I understand now about the cyano/algae/whatever! In my previous post, I was going to say (but didn't! Darn!) that I'd never seen it look like it was flowing up from someone's sand before. But if you were running a reverse undergravel filter, then it makes sense! Yeah... once you ditch that UGF, you should have a lot better luck!

 

[roka64]

Good point Kurt, I noticed that too, that's why I said it didn't look like it to me.....the great mystery is resolved!

 

[Innovator]

UGF might not have anything to do with it since that particular cyano and any current can lead to such swaying. As a matter of fact, I have seen cyano literally standing straight up without current as well...talk about a tank of bubbling goo :s

 

[roka64]

Hmmm, interesting. I have not seen it in such "strands", at least not that long.

 

[Magnus]

I'm sort of in the same boat...I'm battling the purple slimy cyano...I've been doing water changes and removing it manually with a soft toothbrush and sucking it up with a turkey baster (which works very well I may add). I'm also cutting the feedings back, and next is to do the same with the light cycle.

 

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

sucking it up with a turkey baster (which works very well I may add). I'm also cutting the feedings back, and next is to do the same with the light cycle.

Thanks for the turkey baster tip, I tried mine today to remove some residual strands left over from the die off - worked great !. I have my algae under control now.Thanks for the advice, how I did it?: Lights off for about 5 days, feed with dropper to individual fish every other day, (no big messy pour-in frozen feeding). target feeding is fun any how, and less debris floating around. Scrape/vacuum bottom of tank twice and one good 20% PWC. I will continue to do weekly 10% PWC with RO to dilute even further the tap water I started off with a couple months ago. I will start putting lights on about 4 hours a day and see how it goes, as I have snails and crabs in there that will need some green algae to eat.

I am learning to view reef keeping like stock market investing- DON'T PANIC- NO IRRATIONAL MOVES-BE PATIENT-THE LESS YOUR HANDS ARE IN IT THE BETTER OFF YOU ARE, and If it smells FISHY,something ain't right.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...

I am learning to view reef keeping like stock market investing- DON'T PANIC- NO IRRATIONAL MOVES-BE PATIENT-THE LESS YOUR HANDS ARE IN IT THE BETTER OFF YOU ARE, and If it smells FISHY,something ain't right.

That is AWESOME advice! (For both the market and our tanks!)

 

[austinsdad]

Joey! Joey! Joey!!!

Did you pen that one? Awesome!